The Painter
by corinthrizze
Summary: Time stopped that's what it seems but... all Itachi ever wanted was to see his foolish little brother.


* * *

**The Painter**

* * *

It was a wonderful day. It was just like any other day yet to Hinata it was somewhat special, she didn't know why, though. She just lay there in the grass, carefree. She was singing a song inside her head, a song that had managed to cling to her like the paws of a cat to a wool turtle neck sweater. 

Tenten came running. She tried to grasp her breath. Then said, "The Hokage wishes to see us."

Hinata stood up and felt her muscle ache. She had been training with Shino, Kiba and Akamaru. She managed to smile a little at Tenten who looked at her with worry.

"Don't worry I'm okay." Hinata said in her small voice.

"Let's go." Tenten said.

They walked towards the direction of the Hokage's building. Hinata took one last glance at the sky in the training grounds. She looked at the bird flying in the sky. It just froze there, the bird that is. Hinata stared at it quite puzzled.

Tenten then said, "Hinata we have to walk faster if we want to get there before the sun sets."

Hinata nodded and Tenten just smiled at her.

* * *

They arrived at the Hokage's office fifteen minutes later. 

The Hokage was sitting there, fanning herself.

"It's really hot today..." She muttered to herself. "Shizune can you please give me a cold drink?"

"Okay." Shizune said as she was about to open the door.

"Now where are the others?" Tsunade asked the two girls.

"I asked Sasuke to call Shikamaru." Tenten said.

Just as she said that Sasuke appeared at the door with Kiba.

"Shikamaru is busy." Sasuke said.

"That's unlikely him." Tsunade said. "Okay Inuzuka would do better with his dog in this mission anyway."

"What's the mission, Tsunade-sama?" Tenten asked.

"There has been a theft in the Museum of Konoha in the West District. It occurred several times now. I want you four to guard the museum for three nights." Tsunade said.

"Yes." The group said in unison.

Then Sasuke asked the Hokage. "Has anyone been suspected of the theft?"

"No one… It was clean and no clues have been left by the thieves. The guards there were put to sleep at night then they crept in and stole random artifacts." Tsunade informed the Uchiha. "There's a new artifact that the archeologists have brought in the museum. The thief might be interested with it. He/She might appear again tonight or the following nights, so you must keep a watch."

He nodded and they all left the building.

"Do you think the thief would really show up?" Hinata asked.

"We don't know," Kiba said. "But Akamaru and me might catch his scent."

"I," Sasuke murmured.

"What did you say?" Tenten asked.

"Inuzuka, Akamaru and I, not me," Sasuke corrected the dog boy.

Kiba scowled at him, "Since when have you been a grammar teacher?"

Sasuke made a sound as if he was annoyed.

"Anyway we'll see each other tonight, okay?" Hinata said abruptly, setting aside the tension between the two boys.

"Okay," Kiba and Tenten said.

Sasuke just gave her a curt nod. And without a word he went his way.

"I'll walk you home, Hinata," Kiba offered, he grinned. Akamaru then barked. "We'll walk you home."

"Why don't we just go to our house and have dinner there? My grandfather will be cooking dumplings. And then we can go to your house." Tenten suggested.

"Dumplings!" Kiba exclaimed. "I'm hungry already."

"Okay that sounds like a great idea." Hinata then nodded.

They walked to Tenten's house.

"Why didn't you invite Uchiha-san?" Hinata asked Tenten.

"He left already," Tenten answered.

"Or did you wait for him to leave?" Kiba was suggesting something.

Tenten slightly glared at him. "Okay so I don't like him, at all. Satisfied?"

"Thought so," Kiba then smirked.

"And I bet that he would refuse, so why bother asking him? You know how he is." Tenten said.

At the back of Hinata's mind, she imagined Sasuke might just say yes. But she knew the truth that Sasuke was not really fond with these kind of things.

Hinata was way behind the two of them. She whispered to herself, "But wouldn't it be nice just to ask him?"

The two didn't hear her, though.

* * *

They arrived at Tenten's house just before the sun was setting. They ate their dinner early. 

"So what time will we be meeting there?" Kiba asked.

"It closes at seven o'clock so we should be there at about six forty-five." Tenten said. "We still have one hour to relax."

Hinata nodded then said, "I'll go home by myself, Kiba-kun."

"No I'll walk you home I said that earlier so I'm going to do just that," Kiba said.

"Kiba you should better go home and get ready for tonight." Tenten said.

"But –" Kiba protested.

"I'm going to be fine on my own." Hinata smiled at him, reassuringly.

After that the two left, and went their separate ways.

* * *

Hinata passed by a bridge before she got to where her home is. 

She saw Naruto there looking at the sun that was setting. He was still and didn't move a muscle.

"N-Naruto-kun…" Hinata muttered his name but he didn't say hi or even look her way.

Hinata left him like that as still as a painting. She figured that Naruto might have had a bad day and hurried to the Hyuuga compound.

She entered the compound and found it empty. But she didn't care.

She hurried to her room and then to the bathroom. Hinata took off her clothes and showered.

It was strange. Naruto didn't even notice him earlier. Was her voice really that small?

After that she put on a new set of clothes and then went outside even though it was a bit early.

* * *

Sasuke looked at the random paintings inside the museum. He just looked at them so that people would think that he was actually appreciating the art in these frames. And the truth was that he wasn't interested at them at all. 

"Sasuke-kun," A timid voice uttered his name quietly. It was Hinata, rather early.

He bent his head into a little bow. "You're a bit early."

"I haven't got any other tasks so I thought of going here to look at art and artifacts." Hinata said.

Sasuke said nothing and continued walking down the hallway.

Hinata then just stood there. She noticed a painting of a child wishing under the stars, at least that what she thought it was. The painting was a bit smoky and misty but she can still see the eyes of the child in that picture they were black almost as black as Sasuke's eyes. She shot a glance at him as he was taking a left turn in one of the many hallways of the gallery.

She then followed him, slowly. She then noticed that there aren't any people inside the museum.

Hinata then turned left and she bumped into Sasuke. She fell over but she wasn't that hurt.

Sasuke offered her his hand. "Quit fooling around." He said in his usual cold demeanor.

She then came to her feet and apologized.

* * *

All things looked gray. 

Hinata was done with the gallery. She waited outside the museum and sat at one of the steps in the flight if stairs to the museum. She noticed that moon had just risen. She thought it was weird because inside the museum she felt like more than two hours have past. But maybe she was wrong.

Kiba then came and saved her from boredom. Tenten was beside him, looking anxious.

"Oi! Hinata there's something weird going on here." Kiba greeted him with a worried look.

"It's not just weird it's wrong. Just wrong…" Tenten said looking at her.

"Wrong? What's wrong?" Hinata asked.

"The village people… they're gone…" Tenten said.

"Gone? Maybe it's because night is nearing. You know maybe they are sleeping." Hinata answered, not sure if it was right.

"No. They're really gone… Even my mom and my sister were gone." Kiba said.

"I even went to the market to see if there are people there… But to my surprise there wasn't even one person there." Tenten shivered. "This is just way too creepy."

"What about that old man?" Hinata said pointing at an old man across the street. He was bending down getting the oranges that was on the pavement.

But he just bent there, unmoving just like the oranges.

"He's not moving." Tenten observed. "And he definitely wasn't there before."

Kiba then ran towards the old man. He grabbed the oranges that fell from his paper bag and his hands went through it. "What the hell!"

Hinata and Tenten saw what happened. They stood there wide-eyed and shocked. Kiba tried to get the orange but couldn't. Akamaru howled and howled at the rising moon.

"It's no use." A voice said.

All of them turned their heads and saw Sasuke. "I'm not sure but this must be a genjutsu. Someone has hypnotized us that these things are happening. I've activated my sharingan and did some dispelling justsus but none of it worked."

Then he turned to look at Hinata and said, "Hyuuga try if you can break this."

Hinata activated her Byakugan. Veins were popping at the sides of her eyes. She then stopped and said, "No I can't detect anything even a faint amount of chakra."

She then performed several hand justsus. "It doesn't work either."

"Maybe there are chakra trails or something inside the museum. There might be some clues there," Tenten suggested.

Hinata nodded. So the group followed her.

"We might have been tricked into thinking that we're in the twilight zone or something." Kiba said. "This is a really awesome technique, wonder who's the culprit."

"Shut up, Inuzuka. We've no time to admire the opponent's capabilities we need to find whoever it is we're dealing with." Sasuke words put pressure Hinata.

"Found anything yet?" Tenten who was just behind her, asked.

Hinata shook her head no.

"Whatever this genjustsu is… It's really strong." Hinata said. "Why would someone go this far only to covet things in this museum?"

"We don't know Hinata… We don't know." Kiba said putting his hand on her shoulder.

"What should we do then?" Hinata asked.

"We split up." Tenten offered an idea.

They all agreed.

"I go with Kiba on the third floor and you two go to the second floor." Sasuke said.

"We meet at the fourth floor." Hinata suggested.

"Okay," Tenten and Kiba said.

* * *

Tenten heard a soft music at the hallway of galleries of the second floor of the museum. It sounded like a woman waiting for the return of her beloved samurai, playing a koto to ease her pain, just like in the old movies. 

"Do you hear that, Hinata?" She asked.

"Yes I do… It's a little too loud." Hinata said.

Tenten got her weapon scroll ready, she held her kunai tightly in her right hand. She walked forward and slowly she leaned on the wall, there was an intersection. She figured that whoever was playing that music must be somewhere at the other side.

"Do you see someone Hinata?" Tenten asked.

Hinata was quiet. Tenten asked her again but she didn't answer. She looked behind her and found out that Hinata wasn't following her anymore and that she was gone.

Tenten thought angrily of where the Hyuuga might be. She was about to go and search for her but the music stopped.

She then turned and faced the other side of the hall. There wasn't a single entity there. Just a koto which strings was cut. Tenten neared to it and saw some other strings and a dark liquid. She looked closely at them. She touched the liquid.

Tenten came to realize that it was blood and hair… Black hair very much like Hinata's.

* * *

"Sasuke I smell something." Kiba informed his partner. Akamaru barked, it seemed like he agreed to his partner. 

Kiba and Akamaru ran towards the end of the hall.

"Hey wait!" Sasuke said then he ran.

Sasuke couldn't catch up, he sure was running fast. "Oi! You dobe wait for me." He shouted in frustration.

Akamaru howled. The dog seemed like it was mocking him, telling him that he was slow.

Then Sasuke stopped as he saw that in the far end of the hall there wasn't anyway they could go. It was a dead end. But Kiba and Akamaru continued to run.

There appeared a mirror on the wall. Kiba and Akamaru went through it. Sasuke's eyes widened and soon started to run after the two. But when he got there the mirror dematerializes and it leaves shattered mirror.

The mirror floated in the air. It was unmoving. Sasuke couldn't comprehend what was happening. He felt an urge to touch one of the shattered pieces of the mirror. It cut his index finger deeply and blood came out. His blood dropped on the floor. It colored the floor into a lively shade of read. Then it formed a circle. Sasuke then backed away and tried to jump out of this red circle but he was stuck on the floor.

It formed comma and then another and then another. He realized that what he was looking now looked like the eye of a Sharingan holder.

"Whoever you are I'm not falling into your tricks!" Sasuke shouted.

Then the eye went spinning… then it looked like it was that of a Mangekyo Sharingan holder.

The floor went soft and it was slowly becoming like quick sand.

Sasuke cursed loudly as he was swallowed into the darkness of eyes similar to him.

Somehow he heard his brother whisper his name to no one in particular.

* * *

Sasuke woke up in a gray room. 

There wasn't anything there but Tenten who was touching her forehead. She was just a couple of feet away from him.

"It hurts…" Tenten said.

"Are you –" Sasuke was about to ask her if she was alright but he was surprised when he saw her take a kunai out of her scroll.

Tenten was about to throw it to him. But she didn't.

"Yoouu knooow I haate you… but I doon't really… you're kind of okaaay sometimes… but you're such a whiney, emotional, sentimental, whineeey kind of guy… but I'm not sure cause thoooose were just the opinions of fans…" She said in a sing-song way. He looked at her in a strange way.

Sasuke tried to move but he still couldn't. What was wrong with everything? He wondered.

Sasuke then gasped as some blood splattered on him. He saw Tenten slowly puncturing kunais into her head. The blood trickled down her face.

"Maybe we're dead." Tenten thought aloud.

This thought lingered on to him. It echoed in the emptiness of the gray world.

"Enough! Itachi, I know you're behind these foolishness!" Sasuke yelled.

Tenten then vanished.

Sasuke then heard Itachi's voice. "You know that painting of you by mother…"

Sasuke then felt someone lick the lobes of his ear. "Bastard!"

Then he felt someone knock him on the head.

* * *

Now Sasuke woke up and this time it was for real. 

He saw Hinata looking at him. And Kiba slightly glaring at him.

"Did you knock me on the head…?" Sasuke said groggily.

"Yeah it helped you wake up." Kiba said. "And don't you call Hinata a bastard… Bastard."

"She's not the one I was calling a bastard." Sasuke said.

"Then who?" Tenten asked.

Sasuke looked at her and was trying to look at her head. "Good no blood or holes." He said rather loudly to himself.

"What?" Tenten asked.

"Nothing." He said. "Is the genjustsu gone for good?"

"Yes." Hinata said shyly.

"She was the one to snap out of it first." Kiba said making Hinata smile a little.

"What time is it?" Sasuke asked.

"Seven in the morning." An old man said.

"Who are you?" Kiba asked.

"He's the curator, Kiba." Tenten said.

"You can go now. I'll take it from here. Thanks for the help." The curator bowed at them.

He walked them outside.

"You know what bugs me?" Kiba said.

"What, Kiba-kun?" Hinata asked.

"It's that the culprit did this super complex genjustu but he never did steal anything." Kiba said.

"Yeah that's weird." Tenten agreed.

"No there was something stolen." Hinata said and stopped. "The painting with boy wishing to the stars, I checked every artifact and painting in the whole gallery. And it was missing."

Sasuke looked at her.

"Oh that painting." The curator said. "It was like a scar in this museum. I was supposed to sell it on the auction next week."

"Oh." Hinata muttered. "I thought it was really nice…" She murmured, Sasuke was the only one who heard her.

"Come on Hyuuga we still have to report to the Hokage about our mission." Sasuke said.

"Ummm… If its okay may I know who painted it?" Hinata asked the curator before they left.

"Oh I see you're interested… Anyway the painter's died already, I think her name was Mikoto." The curator said.

Sasuke just looked at him and as they walk to the Hokage's building he swore that he saw a shadow at the back of the curator. It's eyes turned red. He saw it's mouth seemed to move and say, "Foolish little brother…"

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine. 

A/N: This is my first horror fic. Take note it's only a one shot.

Anyway for those who don't know what a koto is. A koto is a japanese musical instrument look it up on wikipedia if you are interested.

Please review and tell me what you think about it... Thanks for reading.


End file.
